Before the Open (Feb 22)

Good morning. Happy Tuesday. Hope you enjoyed your long weekend.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed down across the board. China and Hong Kong each dropped more than 2%, and there were several 1% losers. Europe is currently down across the board; losses are moderate. Futures here in the States point towards a huge gap down for the cash market. Relative to Friday’s close, S&P futures are down ~ 16 points.
The big news comes out of Libya where protesters are following in Egypt’s path. Oil has surged 9% because the the country is responsible for ~ 2% of the world’s daily output, and it’s feared the unrest could led to shortages in supply.
All the indexes registered new highs on Friday, so the trend remains solidly up. Every other “crisis” from overseas has been absorbed by the market; will this be any different? I suspect the market will again make new highs this time around, but I can’t say when it’ll happen. Other than some weakness in November, the market has been steadily climbing since the end of August. It needs a rest; perhaps news from Libya will be the excuse the market needs to take time off.
Here’s the 60-min SPX chart. The index could drop 50 points and still be considered in a solid up trend.

News trumps the charts. Play good defense with current positions and see how things settle out today.
headlines at Yahoo Finance
today’s upgrades/downgrades
this week’s Earnings Reports
this week’s Economic Numbers